Hotline of power engineering specialists:
Specialists of “Rosseti Centre Tverenergo” inspect overhead power lines by aerographic imaging as part of the branch’s repair program to assess the volume and quality of work performed, as well as during emergency recovery operations to deal with consequences of power outages.
8 quadrocopters were acquired by Tver power engineers back in 2018 during the exercises to organize interaction and eliminate mass violations at the region’s power grid facilities.
Power lines monitoring is an important element in the management of the electric grid. Without systematic data on violations in the operation of overhead power lines, the power grid complex may be vulnerable. Aerial inspection of overhead lines using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) allows to most effectively evaluate the technical condition of wires and insulators.
High quality images allow to examine in detail the desired facility. A flight range of up to 4 km and a drone speed of up to 60 km/h make it possible in a short period of time to locate fault or perform an inspection on a large section of the power line.
Specially trained specialists of the Tver branch with the help of UAVs carry out planned monitoring - overhead line flights, shooting at low and medium altitudes, identifying defects and irregularities. Also, with the help of drones, the branch’s specialists inspect the course of clearing and expansion of routes by contracting companies, monitor the status of the protection zone of overhead lines, determine spatial (3D) violations of the dimensions of the route and wires, and support construction work and reconstruction of overhead lines.
One of the most important areas of quadrocopter use in Tverenergo is the prompt fault location during emergency repair work in case of power outages under the influence of adverse weather events. Power engineers inspect overhead lines at medium altitudes, at night with a flash or a thermal imager. The quadrocopter examines power lines in hard-to-reach areas with difficult terrain. The use of UAVs can reduce the time required to detect a malfunction and carry out restoration work by several times.
“The territory of the Tver region is characterized by forest cover and an abundance of swamps. Aerial monitoring of power lines using unmanned aerial vehicles has a number of significant advantages over ground-based survey methods,” stresses Deputy General Director - Director of the branch “Rosseti Centre Tverenergo” Manvel Mazhonts. “This allows to most effectively assess the technical condition of overhead lines in hard-to-reach places, to detect at any time acts of unauthorized activity of third parties in security zones, increase the speed of obtaining information and transmit in real time high-quality data on wire defects due to adverse weather conditions, significantly reduce the time for restoration work, which means to increase the reliability of power supply to consumers in the Tver region. So, for 6 months of 2019, the number of power outages in the 35-110 kV grid decreased by 51% compared to the same period last year, and in the 6-10 kV grid the reduction in the failure rate was 77%.”
